I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lift and leveling system for a shipping container.
II. Description of Related Art
Shipping containers are widely used to ship goods of all sorts throughout the world. These shipping containers typically are rectangular in shape and standardized in size. As such, these containers fit on a wide variety of transport devices, such as boats, trains, and trucks.
The shipping containers are oftentimes temporarily stored on a ground support surface. Consequently, in order to position the shipping container on a flatbed truck, it is often necessary to bring in additional equipment in order to lift the container onto the flatbed truck. For example, a crane or forklift is oftentimes used to lift the container onto a flatbed truck.
Unfortunately, the loading equipment, e.g. a crane or forklift truck, may not be readily available when needed to load the container onto the flatbed truck which introduces additional delays in the shipment of the goods. Furthermore, the operation of such lifting equipment requires specialized and highly trained personnel. Such personnel may not be readily available and, if available, add to the overall cost of transporting the container with its cargo.
In addition to shipping cargo, such containers are oftentimes used by the military and others for specialized purposes, such as a mobile laboratory or mobile communication unit. In such cases, it is oftentimes necessary to protect the container against impacts which may damage such mobile devices. Unfortunately, careful handling of the container and the avoidance of such impacts with the use of cranes and forklift trucks is oftentimes difficult to achieve. Consequently, such mobile devices are oftentimes damaged in the process of loading the container onto a flatbed truck.